


And The Angel Falls

by championmugger



Category: I.O.I (Band), PRISTIN (Band), Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Angst, Friendship, Gen, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 09:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11460768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/championmugger/pseuds/championmugger
Summary: Having been purified as angels at a similar time, Doyeon and Kyulkyung were as close as sisters as their beings could be, sharing their joy and hardships with each other. So when Doyeon fell in love with a fallen one, Kyulkyung did what she felt was needed to save her friend from falling into the pits of hell, even if it meant sacrificing their friendship and sisterhood.If someone had to sin, Kyulkyung would rather have her own hands stained red then Doyeon's wings clipped.





	And The Angel Falls

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Pinky's performance in When The Cherry Blossoms Fade and Crush on Produce 101 finale; also by a part in manga Skip Beat. Doyeon's performance in When The Cherry Blossoms Fade and In The Same Place helped tons too. Brief mentions of gore towards the end, but I think it's not enough to warrant a trigger warning just yet. Let me know otherwise! Dedicated to Amy, my one and only friend who is an ultimate Doyeon fan that led me to fall in love with BFF Dokyul. 

_A grey feather._ She first noticed when a hint of dirt stained the otherwise white fields, the sole oddity amid the lush flowers swaying to the gentle breeze. Feathers were commonly seen on the ground, as an Angel's wings need to shed and grow new, healthy ones, a cycle of life that even beings like them could not escape. But grey ones - the tainted - were rare, a taboo within the Heaven's society. None of the unpure could ever entered the barred gates, or at least, that was what they said, an unspoken rule passed down from centuries, from the beginning of mankind, and even before. So when the slightly grey ends of the feather juxtapositioned itself with with white canvas under the golden sun, it seemed as if the stain had been amplified, jarring in Kyulkyung's eyes. But before she could say anything, Doyeon stood into her line of sight, the sweep of her robes saw the oddity disappearing within the sea of flowers, like an unexpected purification ceremony, disappearing from sight.

The brunette had smiled, chocolate-hues bright and shining with hope underlined with love - the sort that surpassed the usual friendship in human terms akin to family - locked onto the younger's own, and her initial worries faded with the sound of mixed laughter carried by the wind.

* * *

 _Grey feathers._ They covered the entire room in its hazy hues, enough to strike fear and worry in the angel's eyes. They were many, littered on the floor like a fury carpet, fluttering in the room like the devil's whisper, unmistakable and intimidating. Her skin crawled with uncertainty, as if the greys would taint her own wings, the sign of an Angel they were supposed to be. Grey was ominous, a tell-tale sign of the unpure, the beginning symptoms of an infection. The feathers fluttered with the wind from the opened archway, and she couldn't help but bit her quivering lip, taking a step backwards least any of them grazed her skin. 

They never told her what it was like to grow grey feathers, or how it was like to touch them, but she never thought how much it would concern her eventually; those old tales of fallen angels were myths, stories passed from one to another and written on clay tablets, a horror tale of warning for the wavered. Kyulkyung never did - never had the reason to. 

Now, seeing Doyeon in the middle of her room, grey feathers pooling by her feet and tears in her eyes, Kyulkyung stalled, rooted by the archway. She couldn't pull herself away, to turn her back on one she called sister with much affection through time and time again, even though she knew it was the right thing to do.

"No, Kyulkyung, don't come in! Please..." 

How could she not? Tears stung her eyes, the ones that usually reflected of summer and sunshine, now gloomed with a layer of doubt, and pain. It hurt, seeing Doyeon with grey feathers in her hands, the ends dipped with redness, a sign of plucking instead of the normal shedding. How long has it been, the blighting? Who was it, who dared to turn her beloved Doyeon into this state? The smell of spring was no more, that floral scent that she usually had in her room, the natural sweetness that was meant to be a signature of the Angel's nature, now replaced with an uncomfortable smell of fire, of logs burning and twigs in flame.

And yet beneath all that, she was still Doyeon, the one she loved through and through. The angel that breathed of Spring blossoms to her rays of Summer warmth; her first friend past the Heaven's gates, and her only sister in this place. She walked in, the ends of her robes kicking a clean path towards the crying girl, and wrapped her arms around her. Kyulkyung had never felt such anguish herself, and the pain amplified with each pain sob ebbed into the air, and each 'sorry' whisper in her neck. 

They stayed like that, arms wrapped around each other like the first day they met. Gone were the giggling pinky promises to stay together, and there was nothing more then the desire to turn back time to prevent this from even happening, but even angels have their limits. The brunette stroke the soft raven locks, eyes dulled and lips pursed. She could not turn back time, she would make all things better again.

The scales that decided her fate had been tipped the moment she stepped into the room, and if only she knew what it mean.

( Even if it did, there were no regrets. )

* * *

It was a beautiful plan, no less of perfection from beginning to end. Kyulkyung sat by Doyeon's bed, duvet pulled and tucked neatly under her arms. The elder smiled, eyes softened at the sign of peace on her face. The angel held onto the thin hands, and a tear slipped past the corner of her eyes. There was so much more she wanted to do with her - to send their blessings to more new-borns in the world, to give hope to those in the wandering darkness. But there was no blessings to give if they're tainted, and to undo this blight, there was only one thing she had to do. 

There were many promises they made growing up - staying together forever, to be each other's best pal, to help one another. And she realised that the only thing that she could do right now was to break every other promise just for one: to protect each other. They weren't young anymore, not by human years, nor by angel calendars. From child to adulthood, they stuck together as each other's source of pillar. But now, no more.

She closed her eyes, shaking her head away of those memories, fragments of the past that she held dear to her heart. She would not allow herself to waver. 

Soft lips planted a kiss to the sleeping angel's forehead, and Kyulkyung rose from the bed. 

It's time to confront the devil - but such irony was that she too, was to become one of them.

* * *

"...who are you?"

"It doesn't matter," the brunette spoke, eyes roaming the fallen with gritted teeth. Wings as dark as night, the smell of soot peirced her nose...sothis was what the fallen looks like? Someone how had been engulfed by the darkness There was no hopeful energy, the darkness that penetrated the air so thick it nearly forced her to look away. Kyulkyung didn't give in, _wouldn't_ give in. 

"Where _is_ she?"

Kyulkyung could sense the defensiveness in his icy tone, but she too spared little regard to his threat. "Asleep," she said, keeping her answers curt, unwilling to converse more with the blighted one. A little lotus nectar borrowed from the lotophages made for a beautiful sleeping elixir, and just a drop was enough to put the weary angel to rest for the night. The winds were loud at the edge of the cliffs beyonds the plains of the banished, and she should have guessed that they would meet in such a place, a place where even the ones with the purest of heart would waver after facing temptations whispered by the unsaint over and over again. Even so, for the likes of these nephilims to be able to roam about was something she never knew. 

"Surprised to find the likes of us, with our black wings, to roam in Heavens?" 

Her eyes narrowed, fists clenched.

"You think you angels are everything, do you? The 'messengers of hope', 'bringer of justice'? There are too, things that you could not touch, fields you couldn't cross. And that's where we come in - to do the dirty deeds for you. Yet we're cast aside, expected to served an eternity to erase our sins - where's the forgiveness, the love, the concern?"

The brunette's eyes wandered, swayed by his speech. Heaven was...not without its flaws. Even when she was first let pass the gates, it was not as easy to find her place despite its acceptance; who would have guessed, that even the skies had a ladder, a hierachy to adhere? Angels like her, like Doyeon, were a class separate from though born with love; they were the in between, the human souls chosen perhaps out of kindness (or pity) and pure enough to be turned, blessed with a pair of wings to become who they were. 

But that still, was a different story. Only those who _sinned_ had their white feathers stripped, and why should she listen to the whisperings of a devil?

"You look at me with the same eyes like everyone else," he drawled leisurely, spite written in his black unyielding orbs. "I was once part of your kind too, and still is, though of a slight difference. And yet for all the 'love and care' you preach, majority of you angels wouldn't even spare a second glance at me. But Doyeon...Doyeon is different," his voice softened at the end, lingering affection crossed his features for the slightest second. "She was the only one who would spare more then just a look."

It's funny, Kyulkyung thought, how they both had the same perception of her, despite being day and night apart. She understood him, or so she would have thought, but that mutual understanding made her skin crawl. She guessed she was not that much different from them after all, for her appearance that night was no different from the hideous acts of those uttered in myths. Monsters do live in everyone, and who said angels were spared from them, too?

"Doyeon...is different. Always had been, and always will." She raised one hand, fingers spreading apart as a white bow materialised in her hand, one with a golden engraving curled around the ends. There was little time to lose; if the potion wears off and she come in search for them, her plan would be foiled. "She is not like you," Kyulkyung stated, "and I will never allow you to taint her further!"

* * *

"I don't think you understand."

Kyulkyung coughed, wetness prickling her eyes as she curled on the ground. His whip stung like the poison tail of a scorpion, her robes tattered in several places where she took the hit. He wasn't in better shape either, with a cut to his arms and a strong blow to his mid-drift. The angel's hands shook, her bow disappearing from sight despite her will. She was spent, and for all that she gave, she lost out in experience. He was a trained personel, a soldier from the depths below Earth - what was someone like him, hands muddied with the countless lives of others, doing with Doyeon?

"She made this choice."

There was no way she could make sense of it,

 _Doyeon...loved him?_ The idea was unthinkable, almost unbelievable. The purest of Spring, falling in love with the darkest creek? But angels were born full of capacity to love, even the unsightly. No prejudice, no supriority, that was how their morality scales stand, ready to open their arms to anyone in need. Or that was how they were taught as a new fledgling, and no matter how wide their love spreads, there must be rules in place and exceptions to make. That was the reason for the scales, for light is only light when contrasted with the dark, and someone like  _him_ , is underserving of Doyeon's love.

_"Do you think angels fall in love?"_

_"Hmm...I think they do. It's written in text, no?" Kyulkyung turned around, head propped up with elbows on the floor, kicking her legs in the air in languid strokes. "I heard they say when angels fall in love, flowers bloom."_

_"It must be pretty then, those flowers," Doyeon replied dreamily, assuming a matching position, lidded eyes blinking lazily as she stared ahead._

_"Angels sure fall in love all the time during Spring then."_

_"Summer too."_

_The brunette nodded, before tilting her torso towards the other, "why did you ask though. Are you in love? Who is it! When? Why don't I know about it?"_

_"Ahhh, it's not it," she answered, flustered at the outburst, laughing when Kyulkyung jumped and sprawled herself on her back._

_"I don't care I don't care, you have to tell me. No secrets remember? Doyeon!!"_

_"Well...he's...different?"_

_"...AHHHH! So you did fall in love! I don't wanna know I don't wanna know," she pouted, pushing her cheeks downwards with her index fingers to signify her tears, "so who stole my Doyeonnie's heart?"_

_"What is that," Doyeon laughed, folding her arms and resting her head on them, "so do you want to know, or do you not?"_

_"...save it for another day? Mmmmm no tell me now. Ahhh! My Doyeonnie grew up..." Kyulkyung slide down, resting her head on Doyeon's back, arms folded and cheeks huffed. Soft laughter could be felt through the rumbling of her torso, and the brunette couldn't help but sigh. Fingers readjusting the flower crown on her head, she spoke up again, "as long as he's good for you, Doyeon. That's all I ask for."_

_"And if he isn't?"_

_"I'd beat him up." The shorter of the two threw two punches into the air in succession. cheeks huffed with determination at beating an invisible enemy._

_"No violence," Doyeon frowned, nudging her with her elbow. Kyulkyung whined, rolling off completely. "If you beat him up, I will, I will stop being your friend!"_

_"...Noooo!! You cannot do this! I wouldn't beat him up!" she pouted, teary eyes and all. "Doyeonnie, you cannot abandon me!"_

_There was wavering reflected in her dark orbs, one that neither of them voiced aloud. The topic changed there after, talks of the next mission and sunshine and flower nectars, the squeeze of her hand as a comforting gesture, like how all was supposed to be._

She should have known back then that it wasn't simple as falling in love. If Doyeon was disapproving with her verbal expression back then, what would she say if she knew Kyulkyung was doing this behind her back?

_Would she hate **her**?_

Just the mere thought of that hurt her - the one and only person she could trust in the entire skies, her supporting pillar and vice versa. Someone as kind and compassionate, an angel that would fall in love with an unsightly, would condemn her actions? Fingers balled into fists, nails scraping against the ground, she heaved. The wounds left by his whip stung, but it was nothing compared to the growing grief in her heart.

_"Stop!"_

She thought she heard her call, the voice of her beloved Doyeon, cutting across the air. But even that wouldn't stop the fumes rising within her. Desolation - that's how she felt, like a hole had been blown through her heart, and replaced with a gapping emptiness. She pushed herself off the grounds, lifting her head up towards the fallen angel. Gritted teeth withheld the cries threatening to spill, choking her throating, and then they fell; string of tears, like beaded pearls streamed down from a cut thread, rolling off her cheeks. If such is the name of her sacrifice - their friendship, their memories - she would still do it. 

She would bare the weight of her sins, if it meant returning Doyeon her wings.

It was the tears, the tears of an angel in utter anguish, the crystal beads of love, that petrified the fallen angel in his state. Her fingers curled around his neck in a desperate clutch when she lunged forward, throwing the weight of her wounded body onto the other. Her back _burned_ , and she could feel more then see her feathers turning grey. It hurt, like a thousand jarring needles pushed through her flesh, stripping her of her angel's priviledge. A feral growl ripped from her throat as she had the nephilim over the edge of the cliff, tears dripping onto his face, looking into the eyes widened with shock. 

The scales had been tipped, the weighs of her sins forcing her over the ledge, and one hard shove was all it took to send him down into the lands of the banished.

The injured angel hunched over, stained hands covering her sobbing face as her back burned. A loud cry left her lips, echoing in the distance in the barren lands. The sounds of the bones crunching shook her to the core, and she gasped for air when she jerked, body gracefully arched in an inverted position, head tiled back. Black wings sprouted from her back, spreading itself wide, and Kyulkyung was left propped on her hands. The smell of hell's flames invaded the air, the sizzle of burn skin left a numbing ache.

Murder. She's just commited _abomination_.

She played judge to something she never should have, crossing the line of no return.

Pink tongue flicked across her lower lip, staggering forth towards the edge after managing to push herself off the grounds. Relishing in the pain was something an angel should never have, and with wings as black as night, she could no longer call herself that. It was ectasy, the temptation of breaking free of humane restrains, that flooded her mind with a new high. 

"...Kulkyung-!"

The sharp cry had her spinning around, dark chocolate hair with a streak of red swished through the air, landing gracefully by her shoulders. Eyes widened at the sight of Doyeon, watching as she fell to her knees, but her lips drew upwards in a cruel curl. Her thoughts were a mess, a battle between herself. She growled, hands clutching to the side of her head, monstrous sounds in between a bark and a snarl heard in the silence. 

She stumbled back, shaking her head before a cry of dispair was ripped from her lips. The tainted had hunched over, hands on her knees, her stomach ill with a bitter stench, vile and yet, oddly addictive.

"Kyulkyung!"

She could hear her voice, taste the scent of cherry blossoms on her tongue. Was it always that sweet? Did it always held onto that tinge of bitterness and sour aftermath? She shook her head again, mouthing the word 'don't' as she straightened up. Doyeon stopped few feet in front of her, and there it came. The regrets, the feeling of shame, of being caught doing something she shouldn't be. Yet the tears wouldn't fall, for it was a taste of victory, a victory over a loss of her morality. "I'm sorry," she whispered. The twisted feeling was back, the crack of a grin resurfacing. 

No, she will not be like them.

Eyes met with the younger's briefly, a moment of shared contact. There was no hate in her eyes - perhaps Doyeon has yet to understand the meaning of all that - and the brunette took comfort in that. 

There was no regrets, after all. Even if she hated her for the rest of eternity.

"I'm...sorry," she whispered once again, and before Doyeon could reach out for her, she turned on her back and leaped, refusing to look at the tears spilling from the angel's face. 

The last thing she heard before her plunged into the darkness, was the wails of the angel, tears so pure like fresh beginnings. 

Kyulkyung smiled, this time in peace as flames engulfed her, before she disintegrated into ashes.

* * *

That day the heavens cried for losing an angel under their wing, but waters would fall and rainbows bloom as sun peeked through from the cloud's shoulders, and all will be in peace again.

Doyeon kneeled by the tiny cross, a wooden stake stuck into the ground covered by the height of the growing wildflowers. For a land so wide, it's hard to believe that they could always find the little spot they met. Perhaps it wasn't it, but it didn't matter. The angel worked fast and nimbly, fingers twisting the soft stems of the flowers together into a weaven crown, before settling it gently around the protruding top, hanging it by the side. The breeze was great after a rumbling storm, and her white feathers fluttered against the flow of the air currents as they curled around the cross. 

_"Yah, Doyeon, do you think when we grow up, we can have wings too?"_

_"Oh! Like those swans?" she asked, the young girl laying on the flowers, hidden from view save for the hand she was holding on to._

_"Mmhmm, like those giant swans!" The hand moved, shaking in excitement, and laughter filled the air as the wind blew a melody with their glee. "Maybe then, we'd be able to find our own place here. We won't be...different."_

_There was silence, both girls closing their eyes in thought. There was very little they could remember from their 'past', or what they assumed to be their past. A beam of light, the looming gates, and the golden rays - the usual that any new souls would receive as a welcome gift. Kyulkyung assumed that there was little worth remembering of what happened before, but as accepting and kind as the other gazes were, they couldn't satisfy her curiousity...and shook off the feelings of sympathy as shone on them._

_They weren't born there, they were outsiders. There were times she could feel that, but the prickling of her skin seemed to remind her that her thoughts were false, that such negativity shouldn't be harbored when blessings were in sight. And eventually, thoughts like these were left to the back of her mind, behind the comforting hugs through long nights and warm intertwine of their fingers in the fields._

_"Doyeon, if you have those wings...make sure you protect me okay?"_

_"Of course! Kyulkyung will always be the first!" The pinky of her finger hooked around the elder's one, and even without seeing each other's faces, Doyeon could already imagine the wide smile on her face, "if Kyulkyung have them first, be sure to protect me, okay?"_

_"Hmm, shall I~? Shall I not~?" The childish tease was uttered with a firm squeeze on the hand, and Doyeon pursed her lips into a happy grin, eyes closing._

_"Thank you, Kyulkyung."_

_"Mm mm, I love you too, Doyeon."_

No one seem to mention the disappearance of the brunette, or the void in the yellow room that smell of a burst of sunshine. Or the lonely silouhette of the tall girl without her partner. They were like twins, sticking to each other through all, growing up in their little bubble, blessed with their wings at the same time, held the same hopes for mankind. Yet, what went wrong along the way, and what steered their path away from each other?

_"Doyeonnie!!"_

_"Kyulkyung!!"_

_The two girls jumped into each other's arms, hugging and hopping around all the same. Having months of different shifts from one another was draining, but also utterly lonely. While nothing much happened, days spent away from each other led them to some kind of withdrawal, like nothing felt just about right. Now that it's all over, and they're both on the same track again, all would go well again._

_"I miss you so much~" the elder pulled away, a large exaggerated frown on her face as she cupped Doyeon's cheeks tightly. "Did you rest well? Eat well? Work well? Were they harsh on you? You looked tired, did they overwork you?"_

_"I'm fine," she laughed, pulling her hands away before bending down to rest her head on Kyulkyung's shoulders. "I miss you too!! It's been too long. Did your job go well?"_

_"Kind of. I wished they wouldn't pair me up with Dongho, though. He was playing half the time," she sighed, "but it's over, and I'm here, and you're here!" The brunette raised both hands in excitement, before half dragging her outside their sleeping quarters, "Pristine Fields, let's go!"_

_"Let's go!"_

Back then they were apart for a few months in human time. Now, the wait was endless without a deadline.

"Kyulkyung!" she half-shouted, willing the wetness in her eyes to go away. There were a lot of thoughts, emotions running through her, but as apologetic as she felt, it was something she knew the brunette will never want to hear. The raven sniffed, combing a lock of hair behind her ear as she looked at the flower crown. It was her favourite ring of white flowers, and she always said it reminded her of their knitted friendship, close and tight and beautiful.

And it was.

"I'd miss you," Doyeon whispered, nearly sighing. 

The flower petals fluttered against her fingers, as if trying to comfort her, and it did. A smile grew on her face, spreading along her lips and unknotted her knitted brows. She'd miss her for a long time to come, and she forgave her, even though few others would. She knew - understood - her reasoning, even though it hurts. Too many things happened because of her, and she lost too many things in one night. But hatred was not programmed within her, such grotesque a thought shook her very bones. Kyulkyung said it was her compassion that led to the blessing of her wings, but would she have said the same thing if it was that very own that led to the lost of hers?

She stood up. Kyulkyung wouldn't think that way. And she just knew without reasoning.

She knew, because they were always like that. One look, one laugh, one nudge. It was an innate affinity, a natural chemistry.

And that was something that she still held dear to her heart. No matter how far they were, that would never change.

The ends of her wings curled towards her, and Doyeon plucked one feather out, nose scrunching at the prickling sensation. The feather white as snow and soft as silk was slipped within the flower ring like an added accessory. The tall angel nodded, clapping her hands twice. The words of a final farewell was replaced with a smile, and the girl took off without a second glance.

It wasn't the end, she wouldn't allow it to be the end, because no matter what Kyulkyung will live on within her heart, till the day she too, disintegrate into ashes.

**Author's Note:**

> Re-posted from AFF.


End file.
